What are your thoughts on "Reaction Videos"?

[Claws]

Honestly, I didn't even know what they were until recently, when I stumbled across a video by the almighty YouTuber known as "I Hate Everything", where he made a few good points about the whole thing. Intrigued, I decided to watch some of them by myself and... I found myself agreeing even more with IHE than before.

Look, I understand that YouTube is a platform made and developed for all kinds of media, but this thing just goes too far with the concept: basically, reactors record themselves watching a popular video on YouTube and -not shockingly enough- show their reactions to it. That doesn't sound too bad, does it? But the problem is that they don't simply point the camera at the screen or highlight a few clips of the video they are watching, they flat out UPLOAD the whole video alongside their reaction to it.

That's bad in and out itself, but it also has a secondary effect to it: why would you watch the original video -regardless of how awesome you think it was- if it has already been spoiled IN ITS ENTIRETY for you? Yeah, that's the main thing... it really can affect the original creator (who doubtlessly put a ton of work in the original media) in a bad way (whether because of AD Revenue or just views).  

Lately I have found myself being recommended of the reaction videos alongside the real thing and I can't help but wonder why. It isn't only cheap entertainment, but it's also annoying in several ways and layers.

What are your thoughts about them, guys? Do you like them? Dislike them?

BTW: Naturally the "reaction" community felt like reacting to IHE's video... it's quite a mess, but here it is anyway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILCBT4xvFSw

[Chipster-roo]

I heard of them, but I never watched them myself.  I just don't see their purpose, and besides, these videos are probably entirely staged.

In fact, I don't really watch Youtube much.  There is so much meaningless content, it's very hard to find something decent, I think.

[Hammy]

Anyone remember reply girls? Those chicks who would reply to viral Youtube videos back when video replies were a thing? The reason why they're no longer a thing (IIRC)? Reaction videos are that to me, a form of freebooting. Most of them anyway. They're neither entertaining nor original nor insightful.

Some are better than others. The Fine Bros. (despite some of what they've pulled lately) were reasonable with their videos, seeing as they didn't actually show most of the video, just the reactions. But most reactors are pretty much blatantly making money off the work of others with minimal effort and no penalties. Youtube should probably do something before someone takes legal action.

[Claws]

I heard of them, but I never watched them myself.  I just don't see their purpose, and besides, these videos are probably entirely staged.

Oh yes they are absolutely staged... but also very POORLY staged. And besides, there's no much point on them whatsoever. I feel like they could cut the crap and write a blog post or comment about the videos they are watching instead of filming themselves doing so (but I guess that that doesn't bring in the cold cash).

In fact, I don't really watch Youtube much. There is so much meaningless content, it's very hard to find something decent, I think.

True, but there's also a large number of great, funny and insightful channels to counter-weight the tidal wave. PM me if you want more details on my personal recommendations (that I think would suit your style perfectly)

Anyone remember reply girls?

Not really, but I Googled it and it seems like what we have now is a shittier version of those (and that's definitely saying something).

But most reactors are pretty much blatantly making money off the work of others with minimal effort and no penalties. Youtube should probably do something before someone takes legal action.

"Time for me to make more off your hard work. Let's react!" - Rashad the Reactor on IHE's "I Hate Reaction Videos". That sums it up perfectly, doesn't it?

[mistercynical]

I think I'm more worried by the fact that these reaction channels have such a huge fanbase more than any "reactionist" in particular. Those individuals (the "reactionists") are just taking advantage of a trend, something that requires basically no effort and rakes in the dosh from an easy fanbase. I'd almost say kudos to them for finding the easy life if they weren't blatantly stealing other people's videos.

But the fact that people actually want to watch other people react to a video... I can't fathom why anyone would want to do that. It makes me feel so old to say something like that, but it seems just... stupid! Like, what is there to gain from watching someone watch someone else's video? They're not adding anything to it: no analysis, humour, thought or insight, so then what's the point? Is this some sort of companionship thing... like lonely people craving any sort of social interaction? I really can't be sure, but these guys have millions of subs (at least Jinx does)

Most of all, though, I'm worried about Youtube's integrity in terms of copyright and fair use. I'm very up to date on the situations for youtubers like IHE, Jim Sterling, Channel Awesome, Matthias, Cr1tikal and a few others, and the fact is Youtube really needs to get their act together. Any no-name faceless "company" can come by and flag content in your video, whether it's truely copyright infringement or not. And they'll get the revenue from that claim until it either expires or is refuted; but by that time, they've earned enough money and can return to the shadows to rinse & repeat on some other poor sod's channel. Plus big corporations like Nintendo and Konami and whatever, they'll silence criticism and take down any content that they're not paid to allow - yes, they're messing with free speech.

Youtube's in decline as I see it. I don't blame Chipster-roo for saying that it's mostly junk: the frontpage is just littered with clickbait mass-produced sensationalizing non-sense. There are, however, a lot of really, really good channels, and all of my subscriptions (I don't have a lot) happen to be to people with less than a million subs. It comes down to just down-to-earth videos from honest people.

tl;dr: reactionists are basically the cancer of youtube, youtube needs to fix their copyright system, and I write too much.

[Claws]

reactionists are basically the cancer of youtube

You said it very well there, although reactionists are only a part of the problem (albeit, a large one). YouTube as a whole is falling apart at a really fast pace.

The drama is escalating rapidly and, most of the time, over the most stupid things: A lot of people accuse the girl from TheGabbieShow of stealing jokes (which she does... but is it really all that big of a crime? I don't think so -specially because most of those jokes are from movies, which is quite a gray territory-). The girl is popular, yes, and not entirely on her own merit... but do we really need 800 videos on the subject? It's stupid and annoying.

The false copyright claims are amazing... the things that people can get away with these days are unbelievable (just see what Derek Savage did and you will understand it perfectly).

I don't know, there's a lot to talk about and I would like to hear what else bothers you guys about nowadays-YT before continuing myself.

[Hammy]

A chance to air my grievances with Youtube? I have waited for this day.

We here all seem to know about the copyright crap that's been going down lately and how utterly garbage it all is. Honestly, I just hate how selective it is. You don't see many reactors or prank channels getting busted for breaking rules, so why should people who work hard to put out original, insightful content get strikes and random channel take downs out of nowhere?

Oh, and prank channels, they're another thing I can't stand. Won't say too much on them because people like GradeAUnderA have already complained, but God do they use the most shock-based, underhanded, uncreative techniques to get views. And most of them don't even have enough integrity to deal with the consequences when a prank goes south, assuming it isn't staged in the first place.

Of course, even back in 2009 as far as 2012, people abused Youtube's system to get hits. I remember when fake titles and fake thumbnails and subscriber begging were the worst of our problems, along with the occasional Viacom or UMG raid. It's not all that different now, but it seems that more bigger companies are catching on and trying to crush anything and everything they see as a threat.

And how about how Youtube has never, ever listened to its community? Past seven years they've done little else but make gratuitous changes that no one asked for or liked and the website's look is now so sterile you could perform surgery on it. No personality just the great white sea. I know the Youtube community isn't the best, guys, but it should be pretty obvious when people just don't like something. Though, that's not a problem exclusive to Youtube, is it?

You know, I like stupid nonsense on Youtube. I still watch Youtube Poop, for God's sake, I'm an idiot and I'm not ashamed. I can, however, still see pretty clearly that things have gone totally off-the-rails lately. And the worst part is that Youtube probably won't even try to fix the sinking ship. Some things they can't even truly fix, but it's not going to be profitable to do so in any case. Even being as big as it is, Youtube is a net neutral in terms of income for Google. It's a damn shame to see it suffocating like it is.

Pardon my long tirade, I'm kind of entrenched in the fiasco that is Youtube as well. Have been for years now, really. I hate to say it, but I kind of wish that Fred was still the worst thing on Youtube.

[Naylte]

Ah, reaction videos. I rate their utility at the bottom of the barrel alongside the likes of "countdowns" and "unboxing" videos (I have quite a few complaints about those. Maybe another time). From what I've seen, they require little more than a camera, a popular video you didn't make, and good (er, bad) acting. They all seem so... artificial and exaggerated. As it turns out, watching someone react to a video isn't all that interesting unless they bring out the most ridiculous facial expressions they can muster and make pointless and excessive noises. Well, assuming most people watch videos in the same manner that I do, where you don't have much outward expression aside from the occasional laughter when warranted. Either way, I haven't given reaction videos much thought or viewership at all, so I do not have much of an opinion of them outside of their absurdity.

General YT complaints? I don't go there much anymore, but I've got some. For one, the idiots infesting comment sections everywhere, but that's beyond anyone's control. I can't help but feel it's only gotten worse, however. Then there's the useless features like Youtube Red or Youtube Gaming. No one in his or her right mind would pay for YT Red (unless you were a hardcore Pewdiepie fan or something, I dunno), and Twitch outclasses YT Gaming immensely, especially since it was already well-established and attracted a large user base. Then you had the whole ordeal where a Google+ account became required to use YT, and it still has almost no users.

Then there's the quality of the videos themselves. I am in the gaming part of YT most of the time (I like speedruns after all), so I'll focus on that. I have this running joke where you can only become really popular on YT if you put your titles in all caps, have outrageous and exaggerated reactions to everything that occurs in the game you're playing, talk incessantly to the point where I wonder if you remembered to breathe, and, of course, have a really corny animated version of yourself in every video thumbnail. You don't even have to be good at anything you play. Look at the top gaming channels and just see how many adhere to those standards. While I will admit that the editing in those videos is pretty good in comparison to what was around in the past, these Youtubers are unbearably annoying to watch. Despite that, they have millions of viewers. I've always wondered whether their forged personalities or their fanbases came first. Not that it really matters. I never liked "Let's Plays" anyway. It's a good thing speed runs are still relatively unpopular and usually consist of nothing more than skilled gameplay with the occasional informative commentary.

In the end, I just stick to the small channels. You can actually interact with them in some cases and you don't have to suffer through a bunch of screaming due to the selling of their soul for viewers or something. There's a lot of interesting stuff out there if you take the time to look past the front page. How else could I hope to watch the Watership Down series or listen to people talk about interesting subjects?

[Claws]

@Hammy: You mentioned prank videos... I know that those get a lot of attention and a lot of hate but, as someone who has no interest in them nor has ever watched any example of those, can you explain me what's exactly wrong with them? I mean, I don't think I'm going to figure it out after just watching a few (aside from the fact that those are stupid jokes and you know how they are going to end beforehand). Also, what do you mean by "pranks going south" and the people in charge on them "not having the integrity to fix it when it comes to it"? I'm really intrigued.

@Naytle: Please speak your mind about unboxing videos and the like... I'm getting the popcorn ready (seriously, I'm LOVING your opinions on YouTube guys... so insightful, so interesting. Keep them coming)

There seems to be a lot of crappy content on YouTube Red at the moment (with the exception of the Rooster Teeth movie, which I'm honestly interested in watching but that I'm not going to pay YT for doing so).

[Chipster-roo]

The problems with Youtube...OK let's see if I can make sense.

Firstly, as it has already been pointed out, the recommendations on the main page really aren't that good.  There is also the very annoying tendency of them recommending me videos I've already watched.

Also, I've followed a few channels since they were very small, with only a few subscribers, but I found that as they got more and more subscribers, their content became more elaborate and its quality decreased.

I've heard of these prank videos and unboxing videos, but quite frankly I never cared for either of them.  What's the point in seeing someone take something out of a box?  Just proceed with the review already!

And then the copyright system.  I've had one of my videos tagged, but the claim was legitimate.  I've seen a certain number of channels I had seen mysteriously vanish, and perhaps it was because of the copyright system, I don't know, but from everyone's comments, it seems really broken.

Apart from that, there are the changes they make.  I absolutely hate the new "one channel design" (is that how it's called?) and how you can't search a specific channel's videos.  I find channel trailers pointless too.  And Google+ is just plain ridiculous, and Claws really did a good job a parodying it with his "Noodle+" in his comics.

I don't know if this all makes sense?

[Hammy]

You mentioned prank videos... I know that those get a lot of attention and a lot of hate but, as someone who has no interest in them nor has ever watched any example of those, can you explain me what's exactly wrong with them?

Oh, I'd love to explain.

First thing you're going to notice about prank videos is the use of shocking titles and often shocking thumbnails. This has been a problem ever since Shane Dawson and RayWilliamJohnson started pulling that trick and it bothers me, but it's not the worst here.

Another thing that I could mention is how easy it is to do a prank. I mean, there's more effort in there than reacting to videos, sure, but going up to a bunch of people, doing whatever it is you want to do, and filming it isn't a terribly difficult thing. Not much thought to it, just repeating a process over and over. Unless, of course, you're intentionally provoking them or you're doing a more extreme, unethical prank.

Ethics are generally not considered when making these prank videos. It's not uncommon for "pranksters" to outright break the law in their videos, whether they be harassing civilians or wasting the time of police. You might try to tell me that these pranks are obviously staged and not worth worrying about, but you have to consider that these videos cause a ripple effect on smaller channels who will imitate the big guys for real in an effort to get big. Not to mention that I worry about who is watching this kind of thing and getting real enjoyment out of it. It's just not good practice on any level.

As for the bit about integrity, the people behind prank channels don't always seem to understand that when they do controversial pranks or pranks that involve being a plain ol' jerk, someone is gonna get angry. Be it the viewers or the person being pranked. It's not uncommon to see a dude who does "real" pranks getting beat up by their prankee and then crying "it's just a prank, bro!" Or when what's-his-face went out and pretended to grope women and the internet got angry and he hid behind the "it's a social experiment" excuse, which has become a fairly common excuse or even a moniker among prank channels. You create a situation, therefore it's your fault, so you have to deal with the consequences. Trying to worm your way out just makes you look slimy. I mean, what do these people expect? You'd think they'd like the latter's extra attention anyway. There is a reason "It's just a prank, bro" is a meme.

Highly recommend watching GradeAUnderA's videos on the subject. Much more in-depth and entertaining than my moaning about all this, and I've already complained enough as it is.

[mistercynical]

You know, I like stupid nonsense on Youtube. I still watch Youtube Poop, for God's sake, I'm an idiot and I'm not ashamed.

You and I have a lot in common it seems. Ever heard of HowToBasic or FilthyFrank? Don't look them up if you haven't, though.



Anyways, there's something innocent and at least genuine about those YTPs in their stunning 320x240 quality: they're not meant as anything more than a stupid WMM dump - they're not monetized content, deceitful product placement, or formula-produced big-budget sensationalism nonsense.

Really, the downfall of Youtube as a whole but also for a single Youtubers seems to be when it becomes about the money (or the fame, or the subs). Youtube is now a draconian business venture, riding on the thin veneer of the casual facade of their biggest stars to promote the light feeling people desire in their choice of escapism. Likewise, a youtuber needs to remain down-to-earth and seem genuine even when s/he needs to continue to amp up their personality beyond "Game Show Host" excitement levels in order to keep their audience stimulated and excited.

You can take a look at Markiplier's old videos for example. He spoke calmly and methodically, speaking only when necessary and cursing occasionally. Now, he's a caricature: he's coloured his hair, he shouts into his microphone nonstop, he's got no self control in what he talks about, and he's excessively emotional - he'll cry at anything sad, scream at anything frightening, and curse at anything annoying. His fans will defend his caprice as "coming out of his shell" I'm sure, but the reality is he's hamming it up. No human acts like that naturally, he's making a good show for his fans. He wants his fans because it's his way of life - it's how the bills get paid at the end of the month. My point is he's changed into something he's not for the money/fame/subs.

This has sort of happened to Youtube; it's becoming clear that youtube's suggestions and website layout are increasingly becoming adapted not for a broader audience or fine-tuned suggestions for your enjoyment, it's become blunted down and flooded with pop culture garbage. The latest in whatever computer-generated music high schoolers listen to, the latest from millionaire talk shows, the latest from celebrity gossip, and the latest top ten list from Buzzfeed.

Yeah, like we need more buzzfeed.

Youtube is welcoming big buck corporate influence into a community who literally went there to avoid it. You can't go about running Youtube like a McD's. People go to McD's to get the same burger wherever they are in the world. In contrast, people go to Youtube each looking for a specific thing, unique and individual. If they wanted a McDonalds experience, they'd turn on TV to cable.

Now, I know that Google needs to earn money, and I have really nothing against big companies and big media on Youtube - it's not an exclusive group - I have a problem with the way it's being done. They're prioritizing the big guys over any small Youtuber: if you want proof, just take one look at the homepage. And not just in video suggestions: Youtube is turning a blind eye to big companies like Nintendo as they literally ravage small Youtubers out of their jobs. I could go on and on.

Reaction videos are just a great example of how broken Youtube is right now. I don't watch them, they don't hurt me, so after all they don't really mean anything to me except as an indicator of Youtube's corruption.

My point is clear enough I think, though I must add that even with of this nonsense going on, I'm not in the least bit concerned. "Life goes on, man" as The Dude said, and fussing about with Youtube's affairs isn't worth wasting your time on. Pick up a book (I know a good one), watch a movie, or better yet, go mountain biking or something. We don't have enough trips around the sun to concern ourselves with the inevitable corruption of anything as big as Youtube. When it gets bad enough, it'll fail, and something else will rise from the ashes. The people behind the channels don't disappear when Youtube does.

And that's pretty much everything I can possibly say about Youtube. Ever.

[Hammy]

You and I have a lot in common it seems. Ever heard of HowToBasic or FilthyFrank? Don't look them up if you haven't, though.

You enjoy the egg man and Papa Franku? And Youtube Poop?! Hug me brotha!

And I pretty much concur with most of what you said. I enjoy complaining, but what can you do in the end? Better to not worry.

[Claws]

Thanks a ton for the insight on the subject, Hammy

But really, if you are going to harass a police officer, you really do deserve anything that's coming your way. Going to watch GAUA's video now

[Bright Side]

As I haven't actually seen many Reaction Videos, I don't have an informed viewpoint on this. I'll go ahead and post my opinion anyway.

Personally, Reaction Videos aren't my taste. But then again, many things aren't. I'm honestly not that interested in most of what's popular these days, whether it be today's music, movies, cartoons, or Youtube trends. It's how I am, for better or for worse.

However, that's just me. There are bound to be people who enjoy these types of videos, if they're as popular as they are. If the videos aren't causing any harm (meaning: not breaking any rules or spreading negative content), I don't have any problem with them. Sure, I won't watch them, but others can.

I mean, it's all subjective. What I find uninteresting, another finds fascinating, and vice versa. To each his own: if people enjoy the videos, why not let them watch them?

(Before I go on, I want to reiterate that I don't actually see these videos, and they may be worse than I think. If so, yeah, we have a problem :P)

If these videos are simple fun, there's nothing wrong with getting a little entertainment from them - a little, mind you; addictions are no good If you enjoy it, it isn't a waste to do it.

That's just my take. Interesting topic, Claws.